Watchmen Vol 1 2
** ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * Antagonists: * Other Characters: * * Locations: * ** ***Nepenthe Gardens ** *** * Items: * Vehicles: * |StoryTitle2 = Under the Hood |Synopsis2 = Chapter III Hollis Mason becomes deeply interested in the Hooded Justice's actions and decided upon himself to become a super-hero, known as the 'Nite-Owl'. The name was based on his habit to work out as much as possible. Although his first exploits were largely unspectacular, it has aroused a lot of media interests simply because at the time dressing up in a costume and protecting a neighborhood had becoming something of a fad. Within several months since the appearance of the Hooded Justice, several other costumed vigilantes began to appear: Silhouette, Mothman, the Comedian, Captain Metropolis, Silk Spectre (Sally Jupiter), and Dollar Bill. Hollis reflect on each of their background and how people thought of them. Regardless of the heroes' reasons and their faults, Hollis believed them to be "doing something because they believed in it." Chapter IV On the suggestion of Captain Metropolis, Sally Jupiter and her agent Laurence Schexnayder, the heroes band together to form the Minutemen in 1939. However, the Minutemen did not last long. The Comedian's attempted rape of Sally Jupiter resulted in his departure from the Minutemen and Sally's decision not to press charges against him, as persuaded by Schexnayder for the group's image. The Comedian soon changed his flimsy costume for leather armor following an unconnected stabbing incident, and became a war hero in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two. Hollis personally hoped that America have a better class of hero than the Comedian. Problems for the Minutemen further deteriorated. In 1946, a newspaper exposed Silhouette's lesbian relationship with a woman and the group was forced to expel her on Schexnayder's persuasion. Six weeks later, Silhouette was murdered along with her lover by one of her former enemies. In the same year Dollar Bill was shot dead by bank robbers. In 1947, Sally quit crime-fighting and married Schexnayder, and gave birth to her daughter Laurie in 1949. By then the villains that the group fought were less interesting to fight. Their enemies were either imprisoned or moved to less glamorous activities. Among those is Moloch, who began as a stage magician at the age of seventeen and became an flamboyant criminal mastermind before moving into impersonal crimes such as drugs, financial fraud and vice clubs. Hollis concluded that the Minutemen was finished, but it didn't matter. The damage had already been done. |Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * Items: * | Notes = *The title of the issue is taken from Elvis Costello's "The Comedians." A passage from "The Comedians" appears at the end of the issue: "And I'm up while the down is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians." *The End-Is-Nigh man is seen outside the gate of the cemetery. *Rorschach's word balloon at the Minutemen meeting noticeably matches those of the other character's; it has not yet developed the jagged borders. *The Comedian's (accurate) rant about Doctor Manhattan not caring for Laurie Juspeczyk much like he did with Janey Slater foreshadows what will happen in Manhattan and Laurie's deteriorating relationship. *When Edgar Jacobi returns to his home, there is a newspaper bearing the headline: "Soviets Will Not Tolerate U.S. Adventurism in Afghanistan." This is previously foreshadowed in issue #1 and ultimately becomes prominent in issue #3. *On page 7, panel 6, when Hooded Justice prevents Blake from raping Sally Jupiter, Blake bleeds on his yellow jumpsuit in the same position he wears the badge at the time of his death. *On page 14, when Blake is slashed across the face by the pregnant Vietnamese woman, some of his blood falls on the smiley badge. | Trivia = *Nepenthe Gardens is named after , a drug that brings happiness and forgetfulness in some Greek legends. This could be stated as the purpose of such rest homes, but can also be seen as an ironic statement, since it is common for residents in these homes to become sorrowful and feel emotional pain at their solitude and separation from their families. *In the Minutemen photo op (2:5:1) there is a newspaper headline: "Scientists Make First Artificial Wonder Element: Plutonium." Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 and later used in the development of the first nuclear weapon in the Manhattan Project. However, its discovery was not announced until 1948 because of wartime security measures. This also foreshadows the coming of Doctor Manhattan. *Silhouette's remark about the Poles aimed at Sally Jupiter (who changed her name from Juspeczyk to Jupiter) directly relates to Laurie’s comment to Rorschach in issue #1 that her mother changed her name so nobody would know she was Polish. During the period between World War I and World War II, anti-Polish sentiment ran high in Germany, and some of the German disdain spilled over to America, which had a large population of both German and Polish immigrants. *On Sally Jupiter's table (2:8:5) is a Nova Express headline: "How Sick is Dick? After 3rd Presidential Heart Op?" In the real world, Richard Nixon fell ill to in 1974 before recovering in early 1975. He died on 8 August 1994, from a stroke caused by the atrial fibrillation from which he had suffered for many years. *The painting of Sally Jupiter (2:8:6) is done by , a real-world pin-up artist of the early to mid twentieth century. *Sally paraphrases (2:8:7) ''Matthew 5:45: "That ye may by the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (King James Version) *The priest overseeing the funeral rite is reading from The Book of Common Prayer. *The newspaper that The Comedian is reading (2:9:5) bears the headlines: "French Withdraw Military Commitment from NATO" and "Heart Transplant Patient Stable." France withdrawn from all NATO military activities in June 1966 after French President Charles de Gaulle grew frustrated by the United States' strong role in the organization and what he perceived as a special relationship between it and the United Kingdom. The first human-to-human heart transplant was performed by Professor Christiaan Barnard in 3 December 1967; however, the patient Louis Washkansky lived only for eighteen days. Apparently, due to science and technology is more advanced in the world of Watchmen, this version of the heart transplant was more successful. *On Captain Metropolis' presentation board that he mentions as "new social evils" - promiscuity, anti-war demonstrations, "black unrest", drugs - clearly reflects on his conservative and racist views which were mentioned in Under the Hood. *In Doctor Manhattan's flashback to Vietnam, Richard Nixon is seen giving two "V for victory" gestures. This mannerism commonly associated with him in real life, where he struck the same pose just before boarding the Marine helicopter that took him from the White House following his resignation from the Presidency. Nixon's posing with the helicopter is based on the well known photograph taken by Dutch photojournalist Hubert van Es of an American helicopter evacuating South Vietnamese civilians on the day before the collapse of Saigon during the final days of the Vietnam War. *The Comedian's remark, "I mean, if we’d lost this war . . . I think it might have driven us a little crazy, y’know? As a country," is a comment on the reality of the Vietnam War, in stark contrast to the war in the world of Watchmen. *The Comedian's dismissive remark "Saigon number ten, New York number one, okay?" In the pidgin language used for exchanges between Americans and Vietnamese during the war, "number one" means "the best" and "number ten" meant "the worst". *The Gordon's Gin logo on the mirror (2:14:6) is cropped to show only "Gord," creating a resonance with Alexander the Great's challenge of the Gordian Knot—a motif that will be repeated later in the story. The cut-off word is what happen to The Comedian's "gored" face. *During the Police Strike riots in Daniel Dreiberg's flashback (2:17:6), a newspaper headline reads, "Cops Say 'Let Them Do It' Senator Keene Proposes Emergency Bill." *The phrase "Who Watches the Watchmen?" is seen spray-painted by rioters during the Police Strike in Dreiberg's flashback. *The drug Laetril used by Jacobi is a real-world drug, marketed as a cancer cure but ultimately found to be fraudulent as explained by Rorschach. *When Rorschach walked pass the peep show, the theatre showcase a sign reading "Enola Gay and the Little Boys." This is a reference to the first atomic bomb used in World War II and the plane that dropped it. This ties in with Ozymandias' theories in issue #10 about increased warlike imagery in times of international tension. *Rorschach's Pagliacci story is the Italian opera of the same name by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The story related in the journal entry was originally told about English comedian who is known as the King of the Clowns. |Links = * Watchmen Wiki }}